Priceless
by a mountain of gideon's scones
Summary: Everyone's adamant that Rose and Scorpius will end up together by the end of the year, but Rose is more confident that Scorpius will end up a toad - again - than that happen. /RoseScorpius multi-chap.
1. Letters

I haven't written for the Harry Potter fandom in what seems like forever, let alone a multi-chapter fic, yet here's the start of my latest attempt.

I don't own anything.

**Priceless  
**_Rose/Scorpius_  
Dedicated to** Alice** (felines)

* * *

Most days during the summer holidays, Rose wants to kill her younger brother, someone who doesn't quite understand that she doesn't want to explain her every action, or analyse her viewpoint on something to the extreme that she no longer supports her original opinion. He does it on purpose, she's certain, and sometimes she's almost thankful; it means that she isn't getting rusty in the holidays, after all, so that when she gets back to school she's ready to fire insults at Scorpius Malfoy the second they get on the train.

Most of the time, however, it's downright annoying. And that's just what happens on the morning that Rose discovers perhaps the biggest piece of news in her entire time at Hogwarts.

"So, _why_ do you think that it's right to ban thin-bottomed cauldrons?" Hugo questions her, sounding more like a five year old than a boy nearly sixteen years of age to Rose's ears.

"Hugo, dear, maybe you should leave it until after breakfast," their mother butts in quickly, keen to avoid another row at breakfast. Every day this week, Rose and Hugo have butted horns, arguing about everything, from Muggle television programmes to whether or not it's worthwhile to get insurance on a broom that's fifty seven years old—Rose's opinion is that it is; Hugo thinks that it's pointless as you can't ride more than about ten miles an hour on one.

"No, she should be able to back up her opinions," Hugo replies, buttering a piece of toast as he looks back at Rose. "So, Rosie, tell me your answer."

Hermione rolls her eyes at her children, flicking her wrist to take the kettle off the stove to prevent it overheating. "Don't argue, _please_," she half-begs, causing Rose to sigh internally. She keeps getting blamed for the arguments when, in fact, it's all Hugo's fault. "If you could keep it until after the post arrives, that would be much appreciated—at least by then the neighbours should be up."

"I'm waiting for an answer…" Hugo says, half singing as he speaks. "Or perhaps you don't have anything to back up your viewpoint and that's why you're refusing to answer."

"Firstly, I'm drinking tea and eating breakfast—it's not like I'm exactly sitting here staring into space to avoid answering your question," Rose snaps, unable to avoid it. "Secondly, have you been taking lessons from the Malfoy prick in how to irritate me, because you're doing it just as well as he does—if not better?" She frowns slightly, drinking the last dregs of her tea, just as she realises something.

It's almost midway through August, which means that the booklists will be arriving soon; they always arrive somewhere between the twelfth and the fifteenth without fail, and today's the thirteenth of August.

Hugo's babbling on about something—probably something to do with her immediately jumping to Scorpius Malfoy and how this is an indication of her deep-rooted love for him—but Rose interrupts him. "Can you do a tracker on the owl and see when it's going to be here?"

"Why do you want to know when the post's getting here?" Hugo asks, a smile appearing on his lips, and a feeling of horror suddenly runs through Rose. He's going to link this to Malfoy, she's sure of it—"Are you expecting a love letter from Malfoy or something?"

Shutting her eyes, Rose counts slowly from one to ten before reopening them to see a smug look on her brother's face; she shuts them once more, repeating the process just for the result to be the same.

"Why are you so smug?" she asks, certain that it can't be anything to do with what he just said. There's no post, and anyway, why would there be a note from Malfoy? The only time he's ever written to her in the holidays was last summer, when he got absolutely blathered with Georgia Zabini (rumours of pregnancy abounded, not at _all_ spread by Rose), and that was to insult everything about her, besides certain assets she possesses, which were rather crudely compared to melons. And unless he's gotten himself into a complete state again, Rose doubts there'll be a letter from him.

"Oh, no reason," Hugo replies, his voice taking on the strange quality it always does when he lies. "Just, you know, there is the fact that the post arrived when you were doing your best to block me out, and I've got your Hogwarts letter."

It takes Rose a full ten seconds to process what he's said before she responds. "What! Give me it _now_, Hugo; I need it!" She doesn't want to admit it, but there's a large part of her that's certain she has the role of Head Girl in the bag, and this letter is either confirmation or denial of this fact.

Hugo makes a noise that sounds scarily like the one Lily makes when she's denying someone something, and jumps up from his seat to run across to the other side of the kitchen, where the appliances are. He then proceeds to climb onto the freshly cleaned work surface, just to make sure that vertically challenged Rose can't reach the letter in his grasp.

"Read me the letter or I'll tell Mum just where your feet are," Rose says, smiling as sweetly as a girl who feels as though she's about to burst can manage.

"Hold your horses, I'm opening the letter now—it's very thick, I'm guessing they're giving you a list of the fines the library's issued you for all the books you stole," Hugo jokes, but Rose has absolutely no patience for him. "Right…right…very interesting, very interesting indeed—your booklist contains something by a Professor Bumblybee, which I'm sure was a nickname for some dragon-blood addict down in Knockturn Alley, but other than that it's—"

Rose cuts him off. "The actual _letter_, Hugo, if you don't mind?"

Rolling his eyes as well as his mother did before him, Hugo unfolds the letter within the envelope and clears his throat dramatically. "Dear Rose Weasley, blahblahblah, I am pleased to inform you that you have been appointed Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—not that that's a particular surprise—as well as to give you the name of your Head Boy, who is Scorpius Malfoy." Hugo takes a pause there, and Rose is torn between elation and depression; deep down, she knew that if she got Head Girl, Scorpius would get Head Boy, it's just reality is so much worse than fantasy. "In addition to this, I would like to add that as part of the privileges of being in such a position of authority, the pair of you are invited to share the Heads' Quarters on the fifth floor of the castle, which will permit you extra opportunity to interact."

Rose freezes. _This_ is her worst nightmare, being forced to not only share the position with Scorpius, but to share accommodation with him too! It's her last year of schooling and she wanted it to be _fun_, not constant insults and jibes.

"Are you serious?" she erupts suddenly, once the shock's passed. "I have to share _quarters _with that prat, that arrogant arsehole, that full-of-dragon-dung prick who doesn't know his arse from his mouth?"

The look on Hugo's face makes Rose realise as soon as she's spoken that he was messing with her just to evoke this reaction. "No," he replies, bursting into laughter. "I just wanted to see your face—it was _priceless_!"

"Get out," Rose snaps at her brother, regretting leaving her wand upstairs because if she had it, he would no longer be a human being. He'd be a toad, just like she accidentally (though perhaps on purpose) turned Scorpius in fifth year, when they were practising human Transfiguration. (Well, _she_ was; the class were practising turning their cushions into toads…she just got a bit carried away and attempted to make an Animagus.)

"With pleasure," Hugo says hurriedly, realising that Rose is no longer to be messed with. "Here you go, sis, your shiny badge and letter—don't lose it, or maybe Scorpius'll take _both_ positions!" he disappears from the room, cackling as he does so, but he's soon gone from Rose's mind.

All that's left is the fact that she's Head Girl—but that she has to work with Scorpius Malfoy for the rest of the year in a civil manner, and neither of them can kill the other.

"_Why_?" she cries out, burying her head in her hands. "Why did it have to be _him_?"

Nobody answers.

_~x~_

The following day, Rose meets up with her friends in Diagon Alley, fearing what they'll say from the moment she arrives. Ever since Rose and Scorpius became their House's Prefects, they've said that the two of them will become Head Boy and Girl—or, as Rose likes to say, Head Girl and Boy, because she's better than Scorpius—and that by the end of the year, 'they'll either be dead or snogging the face off of one another'. Rose has been adamant since this became the predicted future (even Professor Trelawney agrees with them, though Rose is certain her mother's legacy with the woman has something to do with it) that neither of these options will happen, but if one does, it'll be the former.

"Rosie!" Lindsay, one of her friends, shouts from the direction of the ice cream parlour on the other side of the street, causing Rose to head over there. "How are you now you have proof that you get to spend the next year working closely with the sexy Malfoy?" she squeals, and Rose sighs. Lindsay's always been the more romantic one of the four of them, all of their actions focused on the likelihood of a relationship (and inherently, intimate relations) rather than the actual thing itself.

"About the same as I was before I found out: irritated that Malfoy exists, and happy that I get to boss about my kid brother for a year with there being no higher authority," she replies, slipping into the seat next to Lindsay. "Where are Al and Poppy?"

Lindsay shrugs, picking up what Rose presumes to be a nutty delight milkshake—it's all Lindsay ever orders. "Al's off buying my birthday present, but he's not exactly kept it well hidden because he went into the shop that only sells candles, and Poppy told me that she needed to get new stocks of Puking Pastilles about half an hour ago, and she still hasn't come back. Personally, I think she's off having a quick snog with Wood, but you never know, her standards might have slipped back to McLaggen."

Spluttering, Rose begins to ask questions about Poppy's mishap with McLaggen, determined to keep the focus from her own news and her fellow Head, but Lindsay sees right through her.

"You're only getting away with this because neither Al nor Poppy are back to help scream and yell about this news," Lindsay says.

Rose stares at her. "The last time Al screamed, he was seven and it was because Uncle George thought it was a good idea to cover his bed in slugs."

"Alright, Al can grunt like a _man_ whilst me and Poppy freak out," Lindsay concedes, "but you _have_ to admit, he has a nice body."

"Who has a nice body?"

Rose looks up to see Al standing there, Poppy by his side, and shakes her head. "Well, it's not you if you keep on eating all that chocolate," she retorts, pointing to the bars bulging out of his pockets.

"She was talking about Scorpius!" Lindsay bursts out, laughing like a madwoman.

"No I wasn't!" Rose half screeches. "That was _you_, not me, I don't think the blond, arrogant, _stupid_ toad has a nice body."

There's a silence that Rose doesn't quite understand, until the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end: there's someone behind her. It takes another second or two to realise who, but when she does, her entire body turns ice cold. Scorpius Malfoy just heard her discussing his body—whilst she was saying it wasn't nice, she was still _discussing_ it.

"Well, well," Scorpius says in his arrogant drawl. "If it isn't Weasley talking about my body, I always knew that you liked it really, and that you were just pretending. You're so _dense, _Weasley."

Rose immediately bites back the most scathing of her insults, deciding to save it for some time during the new school year. "Actually, we were discussing the effects of your latest bout of chlamydia on your body and how it's probably made your inflated ego even bigger because you're _getting some_," she shoots back, instantly regretting making any reference to his sex life. "And I was about to relay the story of when you became a toad again, but that seems a little hashed out now, so if you want to give us a breakdown of how your life's changed, we're all ears." She turns to face him and smiles sweetly, noting the growing anger within his expression.

Then slowly, deliberately in a way that always infuriates Rose, Scorpius brushes it off. "Talking about me only makes me more famous; all advertising is positive in some way or another," he replies, shrugging it off. "You might want to start being nicer to me, Rosie-Posie, given that we're working together next year. Otherwise, _someone_ may happen to find a ferret in their underwear drawer."

A blush rises in Rose's cheeks that she can't help. "Firstly, don't call me that, it's not my name. Secondly, I think it was _your_ father who turned into the ferret, so that threat is probably worked best on you, and thirdly, why the _hell_ do you think you're getting any sort of access to my underwear drawer? You're an ignorant prat who is more likely to get access to McGonagall's bedroom than to mine!"

Scorpius, once again, shrugs, infuriating Rose further. "Whatever, I don't really care that much; I just came over to make sure I wasn't getting rusty—and I'm not. You are, though; you used the ignorant prat again, and that was your favourite in fifth year. We need to do some work on your comebacks, Rosie-Posie. But for now, if you'll excuse me, I have some shopping to do." Before he disappears, however, he leans in against Rose's cheek and whispers into her ear, "I need to get something for the chlamydia you said I have."

He's gone by the time she whips her head around, and by the time she looks back at her friends—Al looking rather uncomfortable, given his continued friendship with Scorpius—she gets the feeling that this is going down in the records as a step towards the getting together of Rose and Scorpius.

"You know, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to increase the odds in the 'Will Rose and Scorpius Get Together?' sweepstake I've been running," Al says to nobody in particular. "We're now at eight Sickles to four Knuts that they'll be together by the end of the year…any takers?"

"Nah, I'm going for Christmas," Lindsay replies, draining the last of her milkshake.

"I'm taking Easter," Poppy half yells, causing other customers at the parlour to turn their way.

"Looks like I'm the only one taking the long term approach," Al says, still smiling. "There we have it, ladies and gentlemen! The bets are in as to when the warring pair will get together…do you, Rose Weasley, have any comments on who is the favourite?"

Unable to resist a smile, Rose shakes her head. "No, because I can tell you all that you're just wasting your time. There is no way on this _planet_ that I'm going to get with Scorpius Malfoy, none whatsoever!"

Her three friends turn to look at one another with smug smiles that remind her far too much of Hugo's, but it's Lindsay who replies for the three of them. "_Sure_ you won't, Rosie, we believe you."

Rose sighs again. It's quite obvious to her already that this year is going to be the longest one so far—and it hasn't even started yet.

* * *

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	2. Greetings

Sorry I didn't get a chance to update before; I've had exams, which are just over.

Dedicated to Alice (felines)

* * *

"Do you remember what I told you on your first trip off to Hogwarts?"

Rose's head turns in the direction of her father when he speaks, and she nods, remembering those words well. He had told her to make sure to bet Scorpius in every test—something she's nearly managed; he's beaten her in every Charms test they've ever taken, not to mention their flying test.

Her father bringing these words up now gives Rose two ideas about the direction of their conversation: one is that he's going to tell her to ignore his advice and get on with Scorpius for their final year now that they've got the most responsibility in the school—but Rose doubts that. Her dad's always been one for sticking to your gums and your opinion, and she doubts that that'll be any different now; if anything, since first year, her dad's opinion of Scorpius has grown more and more negative. The other thing that he could be going to tell her is that she should argue back as much as possible this year, and that her pranking ought to be taken to a whole new high, which Rose thinks is much more likely (and would explain why her dad's taken her so far away from her mother to have this pep talk, given she doesn't approve of the Weasley-Malfoy pranking).

"Yes, Dad?" Rose replies, turning slightly so that there's no chance of anyone (her mother) being able to read her lips to figure out what the conversation's about.

He smiles slightly, wrapping an arm around Rose's shoulders as he does so. "Rosie, I want you to do the best that you can manage this year; you're a brainbox just like your Mum, and I think that you can do better than she did—if you concentrate."

This isn't what Rose expected to hear from her father, possibly the most anti-Malfoy man on the planet. So she raises an eyebrow at him, indicating that she knows he's spinning a load of bull. "Dad, you don't really want to tell me to make sure that I get my grades, do you? You want to tell me to make sure that I absolutely annihilate Malfoy both in lessons and outside of them, don't you?"

Her dad laughs and pulls Rose in for a full hug, wrapping both arms around her rather than just the one. "You know me too well, Rosie, you know me too well."

"I have lived with you since I was born, Dad, I think it's a bit hard _not_ to know that you hate the Malfoys and want to do better than them!" Rose replies, laughing as she does.

On the other side of the platform, the porter blows the whistle to indicate that the train's departing from the station within the next minute or two, and therefore for the children to say their goodbyes. This isn't quite what Rose says.

"Shit, shit, _shit_!" she curses, pulling away from her dad as she does so. His expression suddenly changes to one of confusion and concern.

"Who are you and what have you done with my daughter, because she never swears?" he says, but Rose barely hears him.

"I was meant to be on the train at _quarter to_, I thought it was only about half ten!" she cries out, hoisting her small bag over her shoulder. "We're meant to brief the Prefects and introduce ourselves—Scorpius will already be there and I'm going to look like a complete idiot! I'll see you at Christmas, Dad, if I make it that far without ending up in Azkaban or something…" Rose trails off as she sprints down towards the other end of the platform, sticking her arm behind her as far as possible in order to wave goodbye to her family.

If Rose was scared about this year before, it's nothing compared to how she feels now.

~x~

As Rose steps into the front carriage of the Hogwarts Express, she becomes aware of just how scruffy her appearance is; her hair's all over the place due to her running about one hundred metres faster than she's ever moved in her life, and she's accounting that run for the red and sweaty face—and the lack of breath, of course. All in all, she definitely isn't in the sort of state that she would prefer to be in to address the Prefects in this first meeting.

Unfortunately for Rose, she doesn't even have a minute's pause to gather her thoughts before she's face to face with the Prefects…and Scorpius Malfoy.

"Well, well, if it isn't our Head Girl finally gracing us with her presence," Scorpius says in an apparently pleasant tone, but Rose can hear the undertone to it; he's ecstatic that she's late because now he can use this against her for the next few weeks. "What's the matter, Weasley, did you get lost on your way to the carriage?"

Rose shoots him a dirty look before replying, taking a few seconds to get her breath back so that she isn't wheezing in her sarcastic response. "No, Malfoy, I didn't, I was saying goodbye to the family that loves me. I guess that your being here early just shows that you don't have that."

His face doesn't move an inch as Rose speaks, but the collective gasp around the carriage gives Rose the impression that maybe, just maybe, she ought to leave her more barbed comments for when they're alone. Most of the Prefects aren't aware of the details of their ongoing dispute, let alone how catty it can get, and for the current moment in time, _she_ looks like the bad guy in the situation.

"Or maybe it just means that I've got better time management than you," Scorpius replies, shrugging as he does so. "At least we know that there's a reason for you being here this year, Weasley, if only to make sure that you learn that on time means getting here at the time you're meant to, not fifteen minutes late."

Not that Rose really has a response to this statement—begrudgingly, on the inside, Rose has to agree with him—but she's afforded the chance to not reply by the clamour from the engine increasing in volume as the train begins to make its way out of the station. During this time, Rose takes the chance to step to the front of the carriage, next to Scorpius, but is careful to leave as large a gap as possible between their bodies. Behind them to her right is the Heads' compartment, which they'll be expected to enter once the briefing is over, and the only thought running through Rose's head is the hope that it's magically enhanced so that it's bigger on the inside than the outside. Given that her mother and Scorpius's father were Head Boy and Girl at the same time and _they_ didn't seem to like one another, Rose thinks that there's a very good chance (apparently, her mum was the bomb with this sort of enchantment) that this will be the case.

"Nice to see you looking nice and smart for your first day on the job, Weasley," Scorpius mutters to Rose whilst the Prefects' attention is still absorbed by the train's departure from platform nine and three quarters. "Though, if you're going for the French chic, I would have to recommend that you buy a brush to sort that mop of hair out; even the Muggles' idea of birds nest hair is nothing compared to what you're currently testing out." He smiles at Rose, flashing her the smile which has allegedly bedded half of their year group, causing her to snort in disgust.

"If you're still attempting to pull off the fallen angel look then I have to say that it's still working," Rose replies sweetly. "Though given that it worked in first year, that would mean that you haven't developed in the _slightest_ over the past six years; I can believe this, but whether you want to admit it is a different story." She laughs slightly before turning her attention away from Scorpius and in the direction of the twenty two other students in front of them.

Before either Scorpius or Rose can talk, one of the newest Hufflepuff Prefects, Hannah Moseby, raises her hand. Simultaneously, Rose and Scorpius nod at her to talk, which she does hesitantly. "Um, I don't mean to be rude but this year…it's not just going to be you two arguing, is it? Because…that's all you've done so far, and we've barely set off from London."

Immediately, Rose feels something turn in her stomach, and as she looks at the faces in front of her, there seems to be a general consensus in this view. Every single person thinks that the two Heads won't be able to restrain themselves from arguing with the other incessantly.

"Hannah, I can personally assure you that our…disagreements won't get in the way of our duties," Rose replies firmly, not even bothering to look at Scorpius as she does so. "I won't lie; we don't get on and we probably never will. However, this won't stop us from working together, and it certainly doesn't mean that you won't have united support from us."

Only now does Rose turn to look at Scorpius, making sure that he's willing to acquiesce to what she's sad, something she knows he'll do from the slightly cocky smile on his lips. He doesn't speak though, and a growing silence builds in the carriage until someone, probably one of Rose's friends from the other Houses, coughs.

"Ok, that's great!" Hannah replies, her tone much brighter than it was when she originally asked her question.

The carriage once again falls silent, and Rose realises that it's time for the pep talk that the Heads have traditionally given to the Prefects over the course of their existence. And it's only now that Rose realises that, if she and Scorpius had a brain cell between them, they would have corresponded over the summer to at least have a general idea about what to say. More than that, even if she didn't talk to Scorpius, if _she _was at all smart, she would have drafted up a few ideas about what they could say, just so that their reign wouldn't start disastrously.

"Um, well, we…" Rose begins hesitantly, but before she can get more than a few words into her improvised speech, Scorpius interrupts.

"Well, I'd just like to welcome you to the first meeting of the Prefects for this school year, and to congratulate you all on making it back to Hogwarts for another year of education," Scorpius says, sounding every bit as charming (and smarmy, in Rose's opinion) as he always does when doing a presentation. "I'm sorry if this is a bit boring for you, so I'll do my best to keep it brief: we're all here to make sure that the younger students don't get lost, as well as to stop some of the troublemakers who like to roam the corridors—especially up near the Charms department!" he laughs slightly and this is a signal for the rest of the Prefects to join in which they do with gusto.

As Scorpius goes through the rest of his speech, Rose feels her cheeks growing redder and redder, and she feels ridiculously stupid, just standing at the front of a group of students she suddenly wishes she was part of. It would have been unbearable to be merely a Prefect if Scorpius became Head Boy, but at this moment in time, Rose would have taken all the insults he could have thrown to have that situation.

"To finish, I'd just like to apologise for making you all listen to my voice for the past five minutes; whilst I have to agree that it is a rather pleasant sound to listen to, I felt it would make more sense for one of us to go through what we want you to do, rather than us to split it up and you all get bored," Scorpius finishes, and Rose's head snaps up suddenly. It's a lie quite obviously, and she knows that most of the Prefects won't have fallen for it in the slightest, but strangely, Rose appreciates the fact that Scorpius is attempting to cover for her—and she's surprised. She isn't sure that she would have done it for him, if the situation had been the other way around…and the fact that he was decent enough to do it has stunned her into an even more complete silence than she was already in.

Rose's attempt at a nod is seen as enough confirmation to what Scorpius has said, so he quickly continues, "that's it for now, folks, so feel free to go back to your friends down the train, but remember that you need to patrol every half an hour or so. When we get to Hogwarts, all you need to do is make sure that the first years get to your House's respective common rooms safely—we don't want another situation like last year, do we?"

Rose's blush, which hadn't quite faded away, makes an unexpected return with Scorpius mentioning the mishap which occurred last year. Scorpius and herself were meant to ensure that all the new Ravenclaw students got to the common room safely, but he had insulted her decision to curl her hair into pincurls (looking back, she has to agree with him, but she would never admit that) and so Rose flounced on ahead to the common room with Albus and Lindsay. The lack of observation over where the first years were going led to one following the Slytherin bunch down towards the dungeons rather than up to the Ravenclaw common room, but they then were distracted by the paintings on the wall. After wandering the castle for three hours, the student finally found themselves locked in a classroom with Peeves, an ordeal which Rose thinks still haunts the student today. This occurrence had Scorpius laughing all year, though even he seemed to agree it was old news towards June (and he had new material to formulate insults from)…and now it's back.

"_Thank_ you for that, Scorpius," Rose replies as civilly as she can manage, though something from her tone prevents more than quickly hidden laugh emitting from the Prefects. "Thanks for your time, everyone, so enjoy your journey back to Hogwarts!"

Taking a deep breath, Rose smiles at everyone before turning around to face the cabin she's expected to share—at least for half the journey, she presumes—with Scorpius, suddenly beginning to doubt the fact that there may be a charm on it to make it bigger on the inside.

Without waiting for the Prefects to disperse, Rose takes a step into the cabin and is pleasantly surprised; the room is bigger than she ever expected it would be. Rather than the traditional seats in the rest of the cabins, there are two chaise lounges in here, along with a bookcase and two tables, a chess board resting on top of one of them. The walls are adorned with paintings, all of which are currently empty canvasses, and the carpet has the luxurious feeling of the one in Professor McGonagall's office, which is of a strange importance to Rose. If a carpet's nice, you're guaranteed that the room's going to be nice, she's always thought.

"Do you like our cabin then, Rosie-Posie?" Scorpius says, scaring Rose slightly; she'd forgotten that he would be coming in. "It'd be appreciated if you could move slightly further into the cabin; I'm slender but your bum's a bit big for me to get past with the amount of room you've left me."

Ignoring the quite pointed jibe, Rose takes a few steps further into the cabin, removing her shoulder bag and throwing it onto one of the chaise lounges as she does so.

"I wanted that one," Scorpius immediately says from his position over near the bookcase, causing Rose to roll her eyes. Of course; why did she not expect that?

"I…I…thank you for that out there," Rose says hesitantly, rushing the words out in the hope that Scorpius won't be able to make them out if she says them quickly.

Their eyes meeting, and Rose is immediately scared of the power she's given Scorpius by saying just these few words. "What do you mean?" he replies, causing a rush of fury to spread through Rose. He's being deliberately obtuse, wanting her to explain it in absolute detail so he's got the full blown explanation of why she's thanking him.

"You…you didn't need to say about you saying everything so that it was clearer to them, but you did. So…thank you," Rose clarifies through gritted teeth, taking a seat on the chaise lounge the Head Boy rejected. She hasn't gathered her bag from the other one, so quickly whips out her wand and summons the item just so that Scorpius can't go through it again and analyse every single thing in it. Last time he had was when they were in the middle of the crowded common room and there had been things in there that she would really have preferred to have been kept private; she wasn't giving him that power over her again.

Scorpius shrugs, grabbing a book from the bookshelf before launching himself onto the other sofa. His feet rest on the arm, but Rose decides not to comment; they've got a long journey together, after all. She doesn't want to run out of things to insult him about before they even get out of Sussex.

"I couldn't have you looking stupid for something that you'd done yourself, could I, Rosie-Posie?" Scorpius replies after a moment's silence. "That's my job, to make you look like an absolute fool, and that was neither the time nor the place. No, just wait, Rosie-Posie, you'll be rueing the day that you got your Head Girl letter within the next few weeks."

"Is that a threat?" Rose retorts, unable to help herself. "Are you trying to say that you're going to do something to me that's going to embarrass me in front of everyone? Because Malfoy, that's what's happened to you pretty much every week of the last six years; all you'll be doing is beginning to get your revenge for what I did to you."

"Firstly, you did _not _embarrass me every week for the past six years," Scorpius begins. "Secondly, I—"

"Yes, I did," Rose replies. "Do you remember the time that I dyed your wrote on the back of your clothes about your adoration for the sight of McGonagall in her bedroom and you didn't realise that _that _was why everyone was laughing at you; you thought it was because I'd dyed your hair pink the day before?" She starts laughing at one of her fondest memories from first year, and laughs even harder when Scorpius throws her one of his dirtiest looks.

She has developed an index for Scorpius and his glares: it goes right from 'I am slightly irritated with you' which he only really uses when there are teachers around, because he doesn't want to make his dislike for Rose obvious (it's a technique she really wishes she would manage to adopt) and goes right up to 'I would quite happily murder you and burn your body, then burn the ashes'. This, she thinks, would rank at the 'I want you expelled from Hogwarts and for you to live your life on the streets as a homeless person' stage, which isn't somewhere that they usually get up to. Even when they're arguing at their worst, it's normally just 'I wish you would disappear off to America and never come back'.

"You'll pay for that, Weasley," Scorpius says darkly, but Rose doesn't care. "This year's going to be the most hellish of your life, mark my words."

He laughs slightly, opening his book as he does so. "And to start it off, you're sitting _exactly_ where I left my leaking bottle of medicine for the chlamydia you told me I have last month." His laugh increases in volume as Rose shrieks involuntarily, shifting across the sofa as fast as she can.

They've been on their way back for only about fifteen minutes and Rose is already sick of Scorpius. She has to admit that this is probably a new sort of record.

* * *

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